


destined for the ocean

by greeny1710



Category: Formula 1 RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Medieval, Alternate Universe - Pirate, Angst, Explicit Sexual Content, Fluff, M/M, Minor Violence, Somewhat, also im clearly not a pirate, idk if it is medieval but like just go with it pls and thank u hens xx, idk kids, it's pirates so like just expect pirate shenanigans, nor in the navy, oh and smut, so like soz to all pirates for inaccurate depiction of pirate ships, will there be a happy ending??
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-21
Updated: 2020-08-24
Packaged: 2021-03-07 03:14:05
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 14,735
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26030029
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greeny1710/pseuds/greeny1710
Summary: Max was a Naval Commander.The Captain was the most feared Pirate in the land.It was inevitable that Max would end up as his captive one day
Relationships: Daniel Ricciardo/Max Verstappen
Comments: 89
Kudos: 131





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> based on a prompt by **Tumblr anon** who said: _Okay but Max and Dan as pirates? Conquering the sea together? A concept_ and as always I just.... got so distracted and wrote a fkin 4 part fic bc I can never just do a one shot, can I lads?? so like lmao enjoy

He’d never thought that this would be his life when he’d given himself over to the Captain of the SS Kikiaye. Sacrificing himself to save his fathers and his kingdom, to save the men on his boat so that they could make it back to his Fathers and tell them that the kingdom was safe from them raiding. 

But more importantly, they’d gotten home to their families. 

He’d handed himself over without a fight. _He’d_ never suspected a thing. 

And Max always knew how ruthless the captain of the Kikiaye was. 

How he’d storm and not take anything for granted, a ruthless buccaneer who fought anyone and won. 

Max had always been strong, had always been a good fighter, his Fathers had made sure of that. 

But in the eyes of the Captain, he’d been nothing. He was a worthless little boy never mind that he was nearly twenty three years old and had captained his ship since he was sixteen. 

Handing himself over hurt, but he trusted the Captain to let his men go and he had. His men had gotten home and the last Max heard was that there were rumours of a search party out to get him home. 

Max had been thrown into the Captain’s chambers, and Max had cowered at first. There was no way he’d be able to fight off the Captain’s advances, no matter what. He’d been taught to fight, and he was handy with a sword, but he’d never be able to win against him. The Captain was too imposing. 

Instead, Max had quickly looked around the room to find anything he could use against him, eventually finding a small knife and tucking it up his sleeve. When the Captain came at him, Max could slash him. 

And then he’d waited. 

He curled into a corner, far away from the Captain’s desk or his bed, closing his eyes and letting the gentle sway of the boat calm his soul. 

He’d been saved from the seas and one day he’d be thrown overboard back into them. He knew how the Captain operated. It’s why Max and his men had fought so hard to stop the Captain from entering their waters. His onslaught of terror was inescapable and few came out alive from it. 

Max wished his Papa was here. 

He squeezed his eyes shut and made sure the blade wasn’t poking out and slammed his hands over his ears. 

If he just pretended, he was back in his Papa’s arms. 

Fuck he missed his Papa and Father already. 

He’d known one day that he was likely to go to sea and never come home, to defend the harbour and his people, but he’d always expected to die at sea. Not be held captive and tortured. 

A gentle touch at his wrist startled Max and he jumped, the knife slipping from his shirt and slashing his palm. 

Max held in the profanity and pulled his hand to his chest, cowering down from the Captain who was squatting in front of him. 

“I’m sorry,” He’d whispered, carefully pulling Max’s hand from his chest regardless of how much Max tried to fight him. 

“Don’t touch me!” Max hissed, pulling his arm away. 

The Captain dropped his hand, holding his own up placatingly to let Max do as he wished. 

“I’ll send my medic to clean the wound,” The Captain told him, shuffling away from Max and heading back out of the chambers. 

Max was ashamed of himself when tears fell, huddling into himself and hugging his legs. 

“Excuse me,” a soft boy murmured, kneeling in front of Max, “My name is Charles, I’m here to clean your wound.”

Max looked at him, saw that the boy only looked to be his own age, and reluctantly presented his hand. 

“Please don’t be angry at Daniel, he only had good intentions when he took you.”

“What? For him? Yeah good intentions like making me his fucking whore, making me the one that he uses when he’s bored, no bother for my own consent?”

Max winched when Charles let the antiseptic pour into the wound without warning. 

“He’s not like that,” Charles said sharply, “He cares about his men, and he took you knowing that he has to keep you safe.”

“He knows?”

Charles frowned at Max, not understanding. 

And then Max saw the moment of realisation hit. 

“No, he doesn’t know. And if I was you, I wouldn’t tell him.”

Max nodded and let Charles clean his wound properly. 

“He wouldn’t do that. Daniel would never force himself onto you, and he wants you to be safe. If you give him a chance, he will be one of the best men you’ve ever met. He takes care of everyone he meets, and he’s loyal to a fault. The rumours are just rumours.”

And Charles had been right. 

He’d bandaged Max’s hand up and left him in the Captain’s chambers, and Max had fallen asleep at some point. He’d woken up hours later, the small windows letting in the moonlight reflecting off the waters and shining on the desk. Max sat up and frowned when his legs got tangled into a blanket. 

He hadn’t fallen asleep with a blanket on him. 

He also hadn’t fallen asleep on the bed. 

When Max looked beside him, he was alone. 

And when he looked up, he saw the Captain. He was fast asleep, one leg stretched out in front of him with the other bent against the arm of the chair and had his elbow resting against his knee. His other arm was curled around his waist and he was balancing his head on his fist. 

In the dark moonlight, he didn’t look scary. 

He didn’t look ruthless. 

He didn’t look like the most dangerous pirate of all time. 

He just looked like a normal boy. 

Clearly, he’d fallen asleep watching Max, and Max should’ve been freaked out by it. He was used to people coming and going as he slept, moving him around and making him comfortable. But this was a new man. This was someone who knew nothing about him. 

And he’d fallen asleep watching Max. 

But frankly, Max wasn’t as freaked out as he thought. 

He was still wearing all of his clothes, his hand was still bandaged, and all that had happened was the Captain had made him comfortable in his bed and sacrificed himself to sleep on a rickety old chair. 

He looked softer in his sleep. 

Maybe he was safe to be around. 

Max picked up the spare blanket and pushed himself up to drop it over the Captain before he shuffled back to the bed, curling into the blanket and pillows and falling almost instantaneously back to sleep. 

He never saw the soft smile that befell the Captain’s lips at the action. 

~

Slowly Max had warmed up to him after a number of weeks, the days blurred into one-another when you were at sea. Max had been surprised to find that the Captain was actually really funny and he was very careful to not touch Max before he had truly trusted him and wanted to be near him. 

They were settling down for another night on the sea, and Max watched the Captain adjust himself to sleep on the chair again. 

“You can sleep in the bed, you know,” Max murmured, thankful for the dark skies hiding the blush rising on his cheeks. 

“It’ll be a bit tight,” the Captain warned him, and Max simply shrugged. 

“I’m quite small, we can fit.”

The Captain looked at Max for a moment longer, and Max shuffled to lay back against the wall and leaving the space beside him open for the Captain to slip in beside him. 

Max turned on his side to face the hull window, putting his back to the Captain, trusting him to not take advantage of him, and screwed his eyes shut. 

“Sleep well, Maxy,” the Captain murmured. 

Max had never even noticed him slide in beside him.

And in every form of cliché possible, when Max woke up the next morning, his face was buried in the warm skin of the Captain’s chest and his hand was resting over his heart, with the Captain’s hand buried in Max’s hair. 

It actually wasn’t as bad as Max had expected. 

In fact, he let himself smile and snuggled back in tighter, shuffling closer to the Captain’s side and holding him tight. 

He’d woken up next to the feeling of the Captain kissing his hair, and Max grumbled slightly at being woken up. 

“Come on, pretty boy, time to wake up. You’re coming above deck today,” the Captain told him, and Max grumbled again. 

“No,” he whined petulantly, throwing his leg over the Captain and pinning him down, “We’re sleeping.”

The Captain laughed and ran his free hand up and down Max’s back.

“Are you always this clingy?”

“Never woke up beside someone that isn’t family, so I have no idea,” Max mumbled.

The Captain’s hands stilled on Max’s body.

“Is that why you were so scared about me taking you?” 

Max flushed a blotchy red and didn’t say anything else. It’s not like he _wanted_ to be the one person in the kingdom who was without a spouse or partner to give him _that_ , it was more that he was committed to his job and being the Commander of the Naval Defence on his kingdom had been his dream since his Papa had told him about it. He didn’t have time to find a spouse. Work always had more pressing demands. People to fight. Pirates to defend his kingdom from. Battle strategies to discuss. 

Romance wasn’t high in your list of priorities when you were the youngest Naval commander in your kingdom’s history and had to routinely save the people to prove you were good enough. To get approval from those that mattered most.

Max pushed the Captain’s hands off him and climbed over him, ignoring the way the Captain called after him and started pulling his trousers on. The Captain started to get up but Max ran off before he could say anything.

Max burst onto the deck and winced at the sunlight burning his retinas. As the cold waves and the salt of the sea burned his nose, he stumbled over to the edge and held onto the shrouds. If he focused on the sea, he could pretend this was normal. That this was his boat, his men. He wasn’t a captive and he wasn’t stuck on this boat condemned to die one day at the hands of a man who now knew him to be a failure of a man. 

Tears welled up as the crashing of the waves against his ship reminded him that this wasn’t normal. It was only made worse by the sound of the men jeering, calling him the captive.

He missed his Papas every day, of course he did, but here now, being reminded that he was nothing more than a captive, that he was no longer the Naval Commander his parents had raised him to be fucking sucked. 

He’d failed them.

He’d failed his men.

He’d failed his kingdom.

He was nothing more than a failure. 

Max dropped his head to rest against the shrouds, his arms outstretched over the side so that everything the sea splashed up, it tickled his fingers.

Charles popped up beside him, and awkwardly pulled Max into his arms. 

“I’m so sorry, Sir,” Charles whispered. 

“I miss my Papas, I want to go home,” Max cried, tears streaming and falling down Charles’ messy white shirt. 

“I know, I understand,” Charles murmured, running his hand over Max’s hair and back, “But you will come to enjoy life on this boat, the Captain will make sure of it.”

“I want my Papa.”

“I know, my Prince, I know.”

Charles looked over Max’s shoulder, saw the sadness in his Captain’s eyes and shook his head. Now wasn’t the time to talk to Max. It was his first day above deck since they’d taken him a few weeks ago now, giving themselves chance to sail far away from Max’s kingdom. 

Far away from the people who would stop at nothing to bring the Commander of the Navy home. 

~~~~~~

After Max’s initial breakdown at wanting to go home and Charles convincing him life at sea with the most dangerous pirate the world had ever seen would be _okay_ , Max found that actually, there was something liberating about not being bound by law. Not being bound by duty or sanctity of the kingdom. 

Not being bound by the Kings.

It took a while, and he knew it never would be the same, but the boat was starting to feel like another home again. 

“You alright?” The Captain murmured, making Max jump as he came onto the deck one night.

Max had clambered over him whilst the Captain was still knocked out by sleep and escaped onto the deck. He’d sat down against the mast, his knees pulled to his chest as the gentle rock of the boat tried to soothe him into a slumber again. 

“I thought you were asleep?”

The Captain was dressed none to similarly to Max himself, except where Max still had a loose white shirt wrapped around his body, the Captain had elected to go shirtless.

Not that Max could blame him. 

The Captain was covered in tattoos, some pirate ones, some that Max recognised as prison tattoos, and some that he seemed to just have gotten for fun. The art decorated his arms, some stretching over onto his chest with the curls of one stretching up on his neck to tickle at his ear.

And he had a set of abs to die for. Max was finding it increasingly difficult to keep his hands to himself. 

Especially considering that he’d woken many times to find himself curled in the Captain’s arms with his hands resting on the strong flat plains of the Captain’s chest, his palm over his ever beating heart. 

A clear reminder that the Captain was nothing more than a boy with big dreams. 

A clear reminder that the Captain was here with him. 

A clear reminder that the Captain was a real person.

“Felt you get up and not come back, wanted to check you hadn’t thrown yourself overboard,” the Captain told him, slumping down to side beside Max and nudged him with his shoulder, “What’s up?”

Max shrugged and played with the cuff of his shirt, flicking it between his fingers.

He didn’t know.

He just knew that sometimes when the static in his head made it impossible to sleep, he preferred to sit on the deck and hear the ocean waves crashing into the boat peacefully. 

A reminder that no matter his issue, there was something over there bigger than him. Something more deadly than him. Than the Captain. And it’s what Max needed.

He needed a reminder that there was peace in the world sometimes. 

“You know you can talk to me,” the Captain nudged, and Max shrugged.

“Don’t have anything to say.”

“You’re one of the loudest on my ship, you’ve always got something to say,” he teased and Max shrugged again.

Sure, the Captain wasn’t wrong, but Max didn’t have anything to say right now. 

The past few days he’d been helping on the deck more, and when a passing ship had threatened to board and fight them for power, Max had proven his proficiency with a sword and orders and helped manage the situation, using his grandest voice to warn them of the dangers of stepping foot on this boat.

The Captain had been impressed at Max’s skill, clearly chalking it down to his proficiency running his own ship.

If only he knew.

“Just don’t have anything to say right now,” Max sighed. 

The Captain sneaked an arm up over Max’s shoulder and pulled his head to rest against his. Gently, the Captain ran his fingers through Max’s hair, the light ocean breeze having ruffled it and made his hair wavy with the dampness. 

“Do you miss home?” The Captain whispered.

Max thought about it for a moment. 

Did he?

He missed his Papas, and he missed his boat.

But...

Well...

It’s not like he had anyone waiting for him.

He was an only child.

He didn’t have any friends.

He didn’t have a spouse or a consort.

He was just plain boring Max.

“Not like I thought I would,” Max murmured as though he didn’t want to admit it, “I miss my Papas but... I felt out of place at home. I feel like I have a home here.”

The ‘with you’ went without saying.

There was something about the Captain’s presence that calmed Max.

“You always have a home on this boat, Max. I just want you to be safe here.”

The ‘with me’ also went without saying.

“Will we ever go back near the shore again?” Max asked as he wrapped an arm around the Captain’s waist and playing with the waistband of his breeches. 

“Probably. Not for a long while though, why?”

“Just wondering,” Max shrugged.

“Do you want to go home?”

Max looked up at the tentative tone of the Captain’s voice and murmured, “I am home.”

“Max, tell me if I’m overstepping my boundaries but…” the Captain trailed off as he leant into Max’s personal space, one hand coming up to gently cup Max’s jaw as his eyes flickered down to Max’s lips. 

“I want this,” Max murmured, leaning into the Captain and tilting his head, letting their lips slot together as they slowly kissed. 

Max had never engaged in … well… _that_ but he’d kissed a few people in his time. 

None of them were as perfect as the Captain though. 

The softness of the Captain’s mouth was offset by the subtle scratch of his facial hair and the spicy musk that clung to his skin, mixing with the sweat, the saltwater, the warmth of the Pirate. Max brought his hands up to sneak between the Captain’s, pulling him in tighter until he was practically pinning Max into the mast, not enough that Max couldn’t easily fight his way out if he felt a desire to (he didn’t but that was beside the point), but pinned enough that he was bound by the pirate. 

He was bound by a pirate.

And he didn’t care…

He wanted this.

And yet his heart was screaming it was the wrong decision.

He wasn’t destined to be nothing more than a lowlife criminal.

He was a Naval Commander for Christ’s Sakes. He’d spent his years defending his kingdom from these very men. 

“No,” Max murmured, pushing the Captain away from him and scooting away from the mast, putting some distance between them, “I’m not a pirate.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :)))))))
> 
> me, leaving it on an angsty cliffhanger??? lads I can't believe it...
> 
> kudos, comments & feedback always greatly appreciated💙
> 
> Tumblr is at 3303andmore - im currently not accepting prompts bc we all know my backlog of requests is fkin mahoosive, but there is a pinned post about what is going to be coming up in the Chaotic Trio AU in terms of the Twins backstory, so if there's anything you want to request for that fic, feel free to go and yeet something at me :)


	2. Chapter 2

“No,” Max murmured, pushing the Captain away from him and scooting away from the mast, putting some distance between them, “I’m not a pirate.”

“Never said you was,” the Captain’s reply came, frowning slightly. In the bright moonlight reflecting off those dark pools of sin, Max saw the slight hurt in the Pirate’s eyes. 

“I’m not like you.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I’m not... I’m not...”

“Into men. I get it.”

“No! You don’t! I need a wife!”

“Well, you don’t fucking get that at sea, do you, _mate_? You want a wife? Shouldn’t have joined the fucking Navy then, should you?”

“You don’t know what I should and should not do!” Max argued. 

“I think I figured it out. You think you’re so fucking special, but you’re not. You’re just a captive. You are nothing.”

Max’s heart shattered at hearing those words.

That wasn’t what he wanted the Pirate to say. 

He didn’t mean to imply that he didn’t want to be with a man. 

It’s just... Max was the only _heir_.

And he didn’t want to let his Papas down. 

“I’m going to find Charles.” Max scrambled up and bolted under the deck to the men’s quarters, finding Charles easily enough and gently sitting on the edge of his bed. 

“Charles?” He murmured, carefully shaking him awake.

“My Prince? What’s-”

“Can I stay with you? I… I don’t want to be with the Captain.”

The young doctor nodded sleepily and held up the corner of his blanket for Max to slip in alongside him. 

“What happened?”

“He told me I’m nothing… Kissed me and then said I’m just a captive. I worded some things wrong but before I got chance to explain he-” Max couldn’t finish the sentence as tears started streaming down his face and he was quickly gathered into Charles’ arms. 

The gentle sway of the boat was more obvious now that he was more buried in the water, but Max found that he didn’t care. It was like being back in his Papa’s arms. 

“Why must everything be so complicated, Charles?” Max quietly sobbed, mindful to not wake the other men. 

“I don’t know, darling. People make mistakes. They do silly things. They say the wrong things. But people do that when they’re scared. You’re scared. So’s the Captain.”

“I wanted to kiss him so bad, but then I panicked because I don’t know if he knows, and I don’t want him to use me to get back at them.”

“He doesn’t know, Max.”

“But what if he does?”

“Oi! Captive! Shut the fuck up and go to sleep!” Someone shouted and Charles kissed Max’s forehead, pulling him closer on the narrow bed and whispering quietly.

“He doesn’t know. He really doesn’t. He’s not using you. He just wants to kiss you.”

“I hate feeling like a freak,” Max told him and Charles simply shook his head. 

“You’re not a freak, we don’t all have time to find a spouse and give heirs, it’s not what we can all do, it’s fine. If you don’t want to do that, no one can force you.”

“I want to be with the Captain,” Max admitted.

“You will be, one day. But you need to give it time.”

Max’s eyes were growing heavy as he tried to fight sleep, to keep looking at the young doctor who had taken Max under his wing and protected him like the brother he’d never had.

“Sleep, my Prince. I’ll keep you safe.”

Neither of them had noticed that the Captain had followed Max, or that he had sat on the stairs beside Charles’ bed. 

Neither of them noticed that the Captain left after hearing Charles call the captive ‘his Prince’. 

He’d lost the captive before the captive had even become his. 

~~~~

“If you want to go home, I will have my men take you back into your waters. Then it’s on you to find your way back to shore.” The Captain told him as Max stumbled into his quarters the next morning, his hair a mess and his shirt twisted around his body, looking more asleep than he did awake. He never looked up from the map on his desk, tracing a finger over the paper, pointedly avoiding looking at Max.

“What?”

“That’s what you want, is it not? You want to go home.”

“No...” he whispered, waiting for the Captain to look up at him, “No! I want to stay here, with you!”

“You want a wife, an heir. You want your Papa. Just go, Captive.”

“Stop calling me that!”

“But that’s what you are!”

“Charles said you were different. I thought I could trust you.”

“Did your Papa never teach you anything? Never trust a pirate, darlin’.”

“You’re a fucking monster.”

The Captain looked up at Max, staring at him through his eyelashes and smirking.

“That’s the joy of being a pirate, sweetie. Get over it. And whilst you’re at it, take your precious little concubine with you.”

“What is your fucking problem?”

“You kiss me! And then you freak out! And then you jump into bed with the next eligible person who just so happens to be the one person on this ship who isn’t a fucking pirate! Explain that fucking logic to me.”

“He’s just Charles-”

“And he’s your age. And not a pirate.”

“Is that what this is about? You’re being a jealous dickhead because I spoke to the one person in the same position as me and you’re angry that I tried to make a fucking friend? Typical dickhead pirate. I didn’t fucking sleep with him but you don’t care, do you? You only care about yourself and your fucking cock,” Max snapped.

Neither of them was quite sure how they ended up like it, but the next thing they were aware of was Max being pinned up against the wall and the Captain holding him there. 

“Captain-”

“Daniel. Just call me Daniel.”

“Daniel...” the name rolled of Max’s tongue and Daniel closed his eyes, pressing their foreheads together and feeling the others breath warming their lips.

“Daniel...”

“Max?”

“Kiss me,” Max breathed, and Daniel didn’t hesitate, pressing their lips together and tracing his hands down Max’s body, tugging at his hips and thighs before Max got the hint and jumped up, balancing his hands on Daniel’s shoulders and wrapping his legs around Daniel’s waist. 

“So perfect,” Daniel whispered as they broke away for air. 

“Kiss me,” Max repeated, tugging on Daniel’s curls and pulling him back in. 

Max moaned as Daniel connected their lips again, his jaw dropping just enough that Daniel could slip his tongue into Max’s mouth. Their lips and tongues moved lazily against each other, the only sound filling the quarters being their breathy moans and the sound of their lips moving against each other. Max’s head dropped back and smacked against the wall with a heavy thud as he pushed his hips down into Daniel’s.

“Max-”

“Please.”

“Maxy,” Daniel whispered again, sliding his hand up Max’s shirt and running it across the pale smoothness of his skin.

“What? What is it?”

“Don’t go back, don’t go back to Charles. Please. Stay with me.”

“Of course,” Max whispered, pulling Daniel in for a sweet but small kiss, more a pressing of mouths against the other compared to the frantic making out it had been moments before. 

Max pushed his ass down slightly, causing Daniel to groan and buck up.

“Max-” Daniel groaned, pulling away and swearing under his breath as his hardness pushed against Max’s ass.

“I’ve- I’ve never-” Max nervously stuttered 

“I know, we don’t have to do anything,” Daniel reassured, “I’m happy to just kiss you.”

Max flicked his eyes around the cabin, trying to ignore the gentle rubbing of a calloused thumb against his ribs and the feeling of Daniel’s broad hand under his butt.

“I want to, with-with you. I want to be with you,” he stuttered.

“Are you sure? We don’t need to rush, we can wait.”

Max laughed humourlessly and shook his head.

“I have no idea, but I know I want you. Please, please, Daniel, I want to be with you. I don’t want Charles, I want you.”

“If you’re not sure-”

“I am. I’m terrified it’s going to hurt but-”

“It’s really going to hurt Max. The first time, getting used to it, you have to understand, I won’t intentionally hurt you but it’s going to hurt.”

“But I can take it, right? You’ll be- you’ll be slow and gentle, right? You’re not like how everyone describes you, you’re gentle. You won’t hurt me.”

“Always baby, always take it slow for you, but if you’re not ready-”

“I trust you,” Max whispered, leaning forward and kissing Daniel again. 

Daniel slowly kissed him back, calming him slowly and trying to push the tension and fear from Max’s body.

“Hold on,” Daniel whispered, stepping away from the wall and sliding his hand around Max’s back to hold him tight as he walked them over to the bed. 

“Fuck,” Max whimpered.

Daniel stopped momentarily and went wide eyed as Max pressed his face into Daniel’s neck.

“Max-”

“Holy fuck-”

“Shit, Max, are you okay?”

“You can fucking carry me, oh my god, holy shit,” Max muttered, his body trembling and his voice high with what Daniel hoped was arousal.

“Are you okay?”

“Might cum on the spot, holy shit, never knew that was a thing you could be into,” he whimpered and Daniel carefully scrubbed his hand across Max’s skin.

“Do you still want this?”

“Daniel, I’m about to cum because of your muscles, yes I still want this.”

Daniel laughed lowly and stepped over to the bed, gently placing Max down on it and crawling on top of him. He pushed his hands up Max’s shirt, slowly revealing the soft skin that he’d never seen, only touched.

Max sat up enough that Daniel could pull his shirt off and automatically pulled Daniel back down on top of him, insecure about how young and ill-defined it looked in comparison to the strong abs and muscles of the man poised above him. Daniel slowly worked his hands down Max’s body, pressing sweet distracting kisses to his lips and smirking when he felt Max’s hips unconsciously jerk up in search of contact. 

“Such a good boy,” Daniel whispered, pulling the neck of his shirt from behind his head and throwing it into a corner of the cabin before attaching himself back to Max’s neck and kissing it languidly. 

“Daniel, please.” 

“You’re so beautiful, Maxy, such a pretty boy.”

Max slid his hands down Daniel’s body, pushing his fingers into the back of Daniel’s breeches and massaging at the muscles of his ass and grinding their hips together.

“Fuck, baby,” Daniel whispered.

“Please, want to feel your body on mine,” Max told him pushing down Daniel’s breeches and exposing his ass to the cold air of life at sea. 

“Are you sure about this?”

“Please, Captain, take me,” Max said, looking up at Daniel with wide eyes and biting his lip as the Captain groaned against him. 

“Come here, baby, let’s take your trousers off, make you more comfortable.”

Daniel slowly worked down his body, pushing Max’s arms away when he tried to cover his torso and pressing kisses to every bit of skin that was exposed. He bit a mark over Max’s hipbone, causing the boy to gasp and arch up beautifully, his eyes closing and his mouth dropping open as Daniel’s fingers danced delicately across his skin. His hands dispersed from trying to cover his torso to bury instead in Daniel’s curls, his body convulsing upwards when Daniel’s hot breath brushed over his sensitivity. 

“Are you sure?”

“Daniel, please stop asking me that.”

“This is a big deal, Max. This is the first time you’ve had sex, I want you to be sure. I don’t want you to just be having sex with me because you think you have too. I’m not going to chuck you overboard because you’re not ready.”

“I have been waiting for years, Daniel, I’m tired of waiting for the right guy. I want it to be you. I trust you.”

Daniel looked up at Max and stroked his fingers across Max’s stomach, looking into his eyes and checking that Max did actually want it. 

“I’m going to be so gentle with you baby, I promise,” Daniel murmured, kissing Max’s torso and then pushing his legs apart. 

Normally Daniel would’ve flipped his bed-mate onto their front, but he could see the slight fear in Max’s eyes and so he kept him on his back where he could keep an eye on him and be sure that Max was okay. 

“If you need me to stop, or slow down, or anything, just tell me, Maxy, I want you to enjoy this,” Daniel made him promise and Max nodded quickly, tugging Daniel up to press their lips together. 

When Daniel broke away, he worked his way down Max’s body again, kissing his naked skin and wrapping his long fingers around Max’s length, slowly working him as he pushed a pillow under Max’s hips to hold him up. 

The first swipe of Daniel’s tongue against his hole had Max gasping and whimpering. 

“Holy fuck,” Max cried as Daniel licked at him, getting him as wet as he could before pushing one finger into him. Max’s body was shaking and convulsing at the feeling of Daniel’s fingers in him and around him.

“You ever touched yourself here before?”

“Yeah, never this good though,” Max whined, his eyes screwing shut and pushing back onto Daniel’s tongue. 

Max was whimpering by the time Daniel got two fingers in him, his thighs tightening around Daniel’s head and his breath coming out in high-pitched whines.

“Daniel, I, Daniel, please!”

“You can cum, Maxy, it’s okay,” Daniel told him as he continued opening Max up until he was biting down on his forearm to muffle his screams and coming hard over Daniel’s hand.

“Holy fuck, Daniel,” Max whimpered, “I can’t, I can’t.”

Daniel ignored Max’s cries as he worked him open, pressing against his prostate and causing Max to scream loudly. 

“What the fuck-”

“That’s your sweet spot, baby, it’s good, right?”

“So damn good,” Max whined, circling his hips slightly to push against Daniel’s fingers and encourage him to stretch him open further. 

Daniel kept stretching him open, scissoring his fingers until he could get a third in, Max moaning lowly. The sunlight was streaming through the small windows, reflecting off Max’s skin and the pillow behind his head, giving him a royal look as the boy in Daniel’s bed whined and writhed, begging to be filled. 

“Please, Daniel, please, need you to fuck me, oh my god, please,” Max begged, his cock hard again in Daniel’s hand as tears pulled from his eyes and his leg started shaking with desire. 

Daniel continued to wet Max’s hole, trying to get him as wet as possible before breaking away when Max’s body started to shake as he got close again. 

“No, no, no, Daniel, please, please, don’t stop.”

“I’m not stopping, baby, I’m just getting myself ready for you.”

Max’s breath hitched and his eyebrows furrowed as he realised what Daniel was implying. 

“Are you sure you still want to do this, Max? I can get you off and not do this, it’s fine,” Daniel promised, leaning up and brushing Max’s sweaty hair off his head. 

“I want this, but I’m scared,” he quietly admitted and Daniel kissed him to distract him. 

“That’s okay, you can be scared, but we’re going to go really slow and gentle, okay? And it’s going to hurt and you’re probably going to be able to feel it for a few days, but we’re going to do this, okay? And it’s going to be okay, but if you want to stop at _any_ point, we will, alright?”

Daniel pressed the head of his cock to Max’s hole, watching as Max’s breath stuttered but he nodded. 

Max reached out for Daniel’s hand, clutching onto it tightly as Daniel slowly pushed him, never once taking his eyes off Max even when Max’s eyes screwed shut and his jaw dropped, his back arching until Daniel had bottomed out, his forehead pressed into Max’s shoulder as he took deep breaths himself. 

“Breathe, Max, just breathe, it’ll be okay.”

“God, it’s so- ahhh,” Max’s words cut off as he sucked air into his lungs, “So fucking full.”

“You’re doing so good, baby, taking it so well.”

Daniel could hear his men running around outside, probably creating chaos and trying to throw each other overboard, giving Daniel something to focus on rather than how _fucking_ tight Max felt around him. 

“Can you, please, move,” Max whimpered, tears streaming down his face at the pure fucking pleasure he felt. 

Max cried out at each minute movement as Daniel pulled out and slowly pushed back in, letting Max’s body adjust to the stretch until Max was moaning wantonly and Daniel could speed up. The whole thing didn’t last very long before Max was clenching around him and screaming through his second orgasm, Daniel pressing their lips together and pulling his screams into his heart, burying them alongside the part of him that said this boy was going to be the best thing that ever happened to him.

Daniel pushed deep into Max, pumping his cum into him and leaving the boy gasping for breath and moaning at how good he felt. 

“That was amazing,” Max whimpered, “You, you are amazing.”

“Yeah? That alright?”

“I want you, I want to be your side. I want to be your Quartermaster, I want to be by your side. Train me to be a pirate, Captain.”

“Your heart’s too pure.”

“Then train me to be bad.” 

Daniel sighed and pressed his lips to Max’s collarbone before pulling out, feeling Max’s body vibrate with his moan over actually hearing it. 

“Okay. You’re going to be a pirate, Maxy,” Daniel agreed, “But it’s not going to be pretty.”

“I know.”

“People are going to die, Max.”

“I’m tired of being on the right side of the law.”

Daniel couldn’t stop the smile working onto his lips as he pressed kisses to Max’s shoulders and neck. 

He’d never anticipated this being the way he got him, but turns out fucking a boy into oblivion was a good way of getting the Golden Boy onto the Dark Side. 

And he couldn’t exactly say he was mad about it.

There was something so fucking interesting about little old Maxy, and Daniel needed to know. He needed to understand it. He hated being out of his depth. 

No

Max was his now. His to use, to exploit, to burn. 

And he fucking well planned on doing just that. 

When Daniel and Max climbed out onto the deck much later, the men were already assembled, jeering when they caught sight of Max being tugged behind Daniel with their fingers linked. 

“Men. You may know this man as our captive. He is no longer that. He is your Quartermaster, and you will treat him with the same respect as you do me. You know how I treat the people that don’t give me respect,” Daniel commanded, Max looking out at the men with pure impassiveness. To say that only a few days prior he’d barely been able to look at Daniel without flushing, it was clearly noted. 

Daniel had to say, he was impressed. 

The boy wasn’t a fool. 

He was learning. 

Well, he had commanded a ship at one point, clearly there was something good about him. 

He still wondered how such a young man had been given the ability to run a ship in the Navy of his Kingdom. 

Yet another piece of the mystery that Daniel needed to solve…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me?? having a kink for evil dan?? more likely than you think
> 
> kudos, comments & feedback always greatly appreciated💙
> 
> Tumblr is at 3303andmore💙


	3. Chapter 3

When Max had told Dan to make him a pirate, his Quartermaster, he’d feared slightly what it entailed. 

Dan was dangerous. 

He’d been to prison.

He’d broken himself out.

He was feared because he was deadly.

Max knew that half of his thought process of getting Dan to make him a pirate was because he had just experienced something that had blown him away. The sex was... _amazing_ and Daniel hadn’t been wrong when he said that Max would be able to feel it for a few days after. Because he did. His entire lower body ached and there was a tenderness in his walk, yet he wasn’t complaining. 

What he was complaining about (in his head, of course) was the fact that he’d fallen for a pirate. 

His Papa had always said protect your head because your heart will try to take you down the wrong path. 

Max’s tutors had always called him stubborn and too strong willed. Too smart for his own good. Too headstrong.

Yet he’d fallen for a pirate and given himself over to him. Gave him that thing that was so intimate and personal because the Captain had looked at him just right without hesitation. 

It was times such as these that he was pleased his Fathers weren’t around to see the disappointment he’d become. 

They’d raised him strong. Raised him a fighter. Raised him a Commander. 

Now he was nothing more than a whore for a Pirate and willing to give him his heart for no reason.

However when he woke in the morning and turned in his Captain’s arms to trace the tattoo that curled up behind his Captain’s ear, Max knew he couldn’t give it up. Not now. Not ever. 

This Pirate was his. 

“Hello gorgeous,” Daniel drawled as he woke up, a lazy smirk on his face as he scrubbed at his face. 

“Morning.”

“We’re going to storm the Bloody Mary today,” Daniel said as Max traced around the rope tattooed in a knot across Daniel’s heart. 

“Is it going to be bloody?”

“Probably. Question is, are you ready for that?”

Max had been on board for a number of stormings of ships. Daniel moved with reckless abandon and Max still couldn’t understand how Daniel _just knew_ where to find the next ship to take control of. He’d always known the Pirate was clever. Tales were told to kids in his kingdom of being handed over to the Captain if they misbehaved too badly. 

The Captain was the horror story that people had nightmares about. 

Daniel was the day dream that Max got lost in thought about. 

His Captain would keep him safe. 

“Yes, I’m prepared.”

“Where’s your sword?” Daniel asked as he looked over Max’s pale body. 

“Next to my coat. Where you put it last night.”

Max’s body had filled out with muscle over the last few weeks aboard the SS Kikiaye, yet in contrast to Daniel, he still looked so small. 

“We should get you branded,” Daniel murmured. 

“What...?”

“Well you’re mine, aren’t you? My treasure. And you’re one of my men. All my men carry the brand. You need it too.”

Max gulped audibly before tentatively asking, “What’s your branding?”

Daniel lifted his right hand, extending his hand out for Max to see. 

How had he never noticed that?

Daniel’s branding was tattooed into his palm, thick black lines of 3’s and DR’s mixed together. 

Max had seen a black mark on most of the men’s hand. And a black mark normally meant trouble. 

Only now the horror stories were making sense.

The black mark of death

Daniel truly was the monster of their world. And Max should’ve said no. Should’ve said he’d never resort to getting a _Pirate’s_ mark on him. 

But he found himself agreeing.

“On my hand?”

“Unless you want it on your neck.”

“No, I’d rather my hand.”

“It’s got to be the hand you hold your sword in. It gives you power.”

Max nodded and looked at his palm. 

If he got it, there’d be no going home. 

He couldn’t return to his kingdom. To his Fathers.

Was he willing to give that up for Daniel...?

The answer was yes. Always. 

“When can we do it?” Max asked, pulling at the Captain’s hand to see his own branding. 

“Once we return from storming the Bloody Mary. She’ll be easy to take. The men will barely need us.”

“So why are we going?”

Daniel smirked and pinched Max’s bottom lip between his thumb and forefinger.

“Because I like to see them realise who is the true King around here,” Daniel murmured as he dipped down to kiss Max harshly. 

Max kissed him back but didn’t relax into it like normal. Instead, as the Pirate kissed him, Max looked out to the sea through their window. 

Daniel was the King of the Ocean. 

An above the waves devilled version of Poseidon, every bit the evil yet powerful man that he’d carved himself to be. 

A King shouldn’t be that. 

Max knew his King hadn’t been like that. 

He was a true King.

Daniel may be King of the Ocean, but Max would never forget the King of the Land. 

~

Max wrapped a bandana around the lower half of his face, hiding himself as much as he could. 

He doubted anyone on the Bloody Mary would come out of this alive to be able to report back just who it was that had stolen their ship, but to have that element of anonymity was always something that Max would abuse. 

Anything to protect himself.

“Are you ready?” Daniel asked, wrapping his arms around Max’s waist from behind as they stood on the upper deck. It wasn’t the cold sea air that was sending shivers down Max’s spine or tracing goose bumps up his skin. It was the knowledge that the most dangerous pirate in the kingdom was Max’s. That Max was the only one who could talk back to him, disrespect him and still have the pirate fight side-by-side with him. 

That Max was the only one on this blasted boat that the Pirate would fight tooth and nail to defend. 

Daniel was protective of all his men, but in a case of losing his own life or a couple men, then men were always sacrificed first. 

His ruthless, cold-blooded killer. 

Protecting Max like he was a maiden. As though he hadn’t been trained and his skills honed his entire life to fight this very man and kill him, and instead Max had handed him the most worthy treasure that the Captain could ever possibly want. 

And the bastard had no fucking idea…

“Always, darling,” Max smirked, the corners of his eyes crinkling under his mask. 

The Captain released Max from his arms and sneaked his fingers under his mask to push it up and press a kiss to his lips. 

“Don’t die on me now, alright?” Daniel whispered against his lips, calloused fingers scraping across the soft skin of Max’s jawline. 

Max laughed softly and looked up at the Captain, “You better promise the same.”

“I’ll always come back to you.”

He couldn’t help but wonder what the Captain would do if he knew just who it was he was kissing. 

“Captain, she’s approaching!”

Daniel let go of Max, looking up at the first mate on watch out on the top of the mast and took a telescope into his hands, adjusting it to see the ship they’d be fighting was indeed in the distance.

“Get the men ready,” he ordered Max. Max immediately sprang into action, running across the deck and yelling for assembly. 

It didn’t take long before Max had assembled the men into position, some manning canons, other’s squatted with bayonets over the quarter deck, a number of them hanging onto the main deck and watching as the Bloody Mary swam closer to them. 

Max chanced a glance up, smiling when he saw the branding on Daniel’s hand was flying high on the Topmast on their flag. 

It’s funny how only a short few months prior, when Max had seen that black mark of death captured in their air, his heart had stopped. And now here Max was, willingly fighting by these pirates’ side as their Quartermaster, being readied to take on that mark himself. 

The storming of the ship happened without hassle, not that Max expected anything less. Max was part of the men that jumped across and stormed into the Captain’s Cabin, grabbing gold, swords, weaponry, finery, anything that looked expensive. 

Max’s hands faltered when he spotted a locket. 

The Captain of the ship was already dead. His throat had been slashed by Daniel. Blood had sprayed everywhere and Max had duck and ran in order to do his own job as adrenaline spiked in his veins. 

His Papa had owned a locket similar. It was different, had Max’s initials carved onto it with a lock of his baby hair in it. 

Instead of tucking it into the loot bag, Max sneaked the locket into his pocket and focused on grabbing maps. The Bloody Mary came from a kingdom two seas over from Max’s own and it was always helpful to have maps of neighbouring kingdoms. Not just for the Captain, but also for Max. 

It was nice having something to kind of remind him of home. 

Just like the locket. He’d carry that locket as a gentle reminder of home. 

Daniel was home. This ship was home. But his fathers and his kingdom would always be _home_.

Max tried to avoid looking at the fallen sailors as he walked back across the deck and jumped down the hatch to check the hull. 

He may now be a pirate and he may have told Daniel he was ready for the bloodiness; however, it didn’t mean he had to like seeing it. There was something harrowing and nightmare worthy of seeing the men with their throats slashed, mouths cut, hands sometimes separated from their bodies at the ruthless nature of the Kikiaye pirates. There was only so much Max’s stomach could take. 

The hull of the boat was thankfully empty and Max checked under all the bunks just to be sure that a child or a small sailor wasn’t hiding underneath. 

They had a law that children were to be left unharmed. If a child was uncovered across a boat that was now no longer manned, the child was to be taken aboard and then sailed to safety on a small rowboat to a kingdom where they were expected to take care of their new charge. 

Max would know that better than most. 

“Max, come back above deck!” 

Max let his eyes flick around the hull for a moment longer, lingering on the Naval decree of excellence that painted the ceiling. 

There’d been one similar on Max’s boat. 

“MAX!”

Sighing deeply, Max climbed back through the hatch and allowed himself to be dragged along back towards the Kikiaye. He watched the way that Daniel stared with crossed arms over the boat, looking to see who was coming back however his gaze kept wandering. 

A moment of relief seemed to fall over Daniel when he saw Max walking back with the other men, laughing and jostling around lightly as they climbed aboard. 

“Max,” Daniel called out and Max took the spoils off the other men to follow after Daniel. Daniel caught him as he got close, pulling the bandana from his jaw and letting it pool around his neck. Max tilted his head and pressed their lips together, kissing Daniel as hard as he dared as the men jeered around them. 

It would still forever make Max flush embarrassedly when people saw him kiss the man he adored. 

Kissing people in their kingdom in public wasn’t commonplace, and in fact, Max couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen his Fathers kiss. There were always people around, it wouldn’t be proper for them to kiss. 

“Let’s go see what you bought me,” Daniel grinned, sliding his hand down Max’s body and squeezing his ass. “Charles! With me.”

Max frowned as the young doctor also followed after them, looking down at his feet when Daniel tugged him to sit on his lap at his desk. 

Charles knew who Max was. He knew Max shouldn’t be with a person in public in this way. 

“He wants the branding,” Daniel told Charles as Max started to separate the haul into piles for Daniel to check through. 

“Does he?” Charles asked, his voice cold in a way Max had never heard before, “Does he? Or have you decided he needs it?”

“Are you questioning my judgment, Doc?” Daniel responded. 

“I’m questioning how controlling you’re getting, _Captain_. Two months ago, Max didn’t even want to be here. And now you’re branding him. I’m going to question it, because he’s the-”

“I told him I want it,” Max interrupted. “Treat your Captain with respect, Doctor. And do as he says.”

“Sir-”

“Quartermaster.” Max corrected, staring blankly at Charles. 

“You shouldn’t do this.”

“Your Captain gave you an order, Doctor. You are obligated to follow them,” Max reminded him.

“He’s not my Captain. He’s just a man who kept me captive as a fucking payment to my Kingdom. Your Captain may be a good man to you, but he’s still the Nightmare Captain. Don’t let him cloud you, Sir,” Charles snapped back at him. 

Max felt Daniel’s arm tighten around his waist and his hand start to stray towards his knife. If Max had to guess, there would still be blood on it from the Captain of the Bloody Mary that he’d slain. 

“I want the branding, Charles. I made my decision. I want to belong on this boat forever. My old life is gone now. I’m not going back. I’m _never_ going back. I can’t. Not anymore. Give me the branding, let me be here,” Max said. 

Charles stared between them for a moment, almost as though to assess whether Max was being serious or whether his judgment had been completely clouded by the emotions he felt for Daniel, whatever they may be.

“You can’t go back on this,” Charles said. 

“I know.” Max slammed his wrist down onto the table, the gold and finery rattling around them. “Mark me.”

Reluctantly, Charles started to grab the equipment he needed to put the tattoo onto Max. Max guessed that given the fact that Charles was the boat’s medic, he was the one that was used to sterilising equipment to be sure that when they branded Max, they didn’t infect him.

It was too late anyway. 

His heart had been infected already with the black soul of the Captain, toyed to be the devil and hardened into a boy that could end a life because the man that held him on his lap told him to.

Charles started to disinfect the needles and Max’s skin before dipping the needle into ink. He tensed automatically, fear coursing through him as Daniel traced his fingers teasingly along the waistband of Max’s trousers to distract him. 

Max whimpered and bit at his lip, tears threatening to fall as he tried to avoid flinching, not wanting to disrupt the lines of what Charles was doing even though the tattoo was so damn painful. Daniel kept up the soothing motion of shushing him and brushing kisses along his neck along with dipping his fingers to skim against Max’s torso to distract him for the long minutes that Charles was working.

“All done,” Charles quietly told him, taking some bandages and unravelling them as Max pulled his hand up to look at it. 

It was a bloody black mess at the moment, however when Daniel gently used some cloth to brush at it, Max saw the design come to light. 

Forever branded as Captain Daniel Ricciardo’s personal boy. His whore. 

The nightmare in the darkness. 

Max smiled softly and presented his hand back to Charles, watching him clean it slightly and wrap it in the bandage. 

Charles started packing away his equipment after cleaning it all off again, looking down as he said, “Keep it clean, and if you get any tenderness or it feels off, come and see me.”

“I will do. Thank you, Charles.”

Charles didn’t say anything more, simply climbed up from his seat and walked back out of the Captain’s quarters. 

Instead of focusing on the mild anger of the only boy that had made Max feel safe, Max picked up Daniel’s hand and pressed their hands together. Whilst covered by the bandage, Max knew their tattoos were now pressing against one-another’s.

“Forever,” Daniel whispered.

“Forever.” Max agreed, cupping the back of the Captain’s neck with his free hand and pulling him into a kiss.

“You took it so well.”

Max shrugged and murmured, “I wanted to please you.”

“You pleased me when you bought me back all this bounty. We’re going to have a brilliant time together, Maxy.”

And Max believed him. 

He didn’t want to, but he did. 

He’d believe anything this blasted pirate told him.

_“Never trust a pirate, Max”_

“Yes, Captain,” Max whispered. He turned in his lap and straddled his waist, hooking his arms behind Daniel’s neck.

Daniel held Max against his front, smiling as Max started peppering kisses down his neck.

“Do you want me to fuck your pretty little ass, my little Pirate?” Daniel murmured.

“Right here, against the gold,” Max nodded.

Smirking, Daniel encouraged Max to climb up onto the table, laying back against the maps and surrounded by the finery that Max had stolen. 

Daniel pushed his chair out and stood up to drape himself over Max, standing between his spread legs and pushing his hands up Max’s body to pull his shirt from his breeches. 

“So fucking regal,” Daniel whispered as he started to pull Max’s shirt off. 

Max felt his heart stop as he pushed himself up slightly to see Daniel, but he seemed none the wiser.

“Surrounded by all this gold makes you look like the Prince of the Seas,” Daniel said, “You’re my pretty prince, aren’t you? Not that fucking medic’s.”

Oh, so that’s what Daniel meant.

He was just being jealous because Charles had called him ‘prince’.

“Forever yours,” Max reminded him and pressed his bandaged hand to Daniel’s jaw.

Daniel twisted his head and pressed a kiss to Max’s new tattoo.

“Yes you are, my pretty little pirate.”

Max smiled shakily and lifted his hips, letting the Captain pull at his trousers and stretch him open. When Daniel took him again, Max threw his head back with a hard thud onto the table, moaning and crying at the hard fucking of the pirate into him. 

“So perfect,” Daniel murmured as Max hooked his leg around Daniel’s back to pull him in harder.

“My Captain,” Max groaned. Daniel bit down on Max’s collarbone, leaving bruising teeth marks across his skin to rest alongside the bruises he was leaving against his hips with how fucking hard he was holding onto Max. 

All it took was the Captain grasping Max in his hand and roughly jerking him off a few times and Max was spilling across his stomach. Daniel fucked his hips into him a few more times before his hips stilled and he released into Max’s ass. 

“You’re so perfect,” Daniel said, pulling himself up to kiss Max hard. “I’m never going to let you go.”

“I hope not,” Max smiled softly, tracing his fingers down Daniel’s jaw and cupping it. 

In a way that only Max’s life would run, he should’ve known that promises were always made to be broken.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> remember kids, don't trust a pirate
> 
> kudos, comments & feedback always greatly appreciated💙
> 
> Tumblr - 3303andmore💙


	4. Chapter 4

The early mornings when Daniel woke up before Max and left him to sleep whilst he poured over maps and tried to work out their next course of action were Max’s favourites. 

Daniel would wrap his arm around Max’s back and hold him tight, writing the occasional note across Max’s shoulders when he thought of something, sometimes just doodling something onto him instead. The days that Daniel wrote a note on Max’s skin, a little reminder to himself of where they were going or a simple ‘my pirate’, those were the ones Max adored. Daniel had problems keeping his hands off Max when they were in their quarters, and even on the deck, Daniel would often be pulling Max into him and pulling at his shirt to find out what he’d written across Max’s skin. 

It was sweet.

Another reminder that he belonged to the pirate. 

Normally Max woke up at some point, the scratching of the pirate’s ink on his skin waking him but he didn’t care to open his eyes. If he did, Daniel would stop. He’d get up and carry on making notes on paper as opposed to Max’s skin, and he missed it when he would. 

The idea of being owned by someone had always terrified Max, hence why he’d made the decision to follow in his Father’s footsteps and join the Navy the second he was old enough. 

He’d been born at sea. It was his fate to die at sea. 

He’d been born a rich boy. He’d die a pirate. 

“What’s the plan for today?” Max sleepily asked, looking up at his Captain and disrupting him as he was leaving a new note on Max’s skin. 

“Not sure. We’re going to keep sailing for a bit, see who we come across. See if I can be bothered to storm them or not.”

“Oh you’re such a good man,” Max laughed.

Daniel laughed and traced his finger over the words he’d just written on Max’s shoulder, “All the evidence happens to indicate the contrary.”

“You’re _my_ good man.”

Daniel smiled softly and pulled Max up to kiss him, brushing his hair off his head.

“You need to get your hand checked by Charles today,” Daniel reminded him.

“I’ll go down to see him in a bit. I just want to stay here with you for a lot longer. I never want to leave this bed.”

Daniel kissed his forehead and nuzzled into his hair as Max started tracing over the tattoo curling up around Daniel’s neck. 

“Max,” Daniel murmured.

“Hmm?”

“I lo-”

Whatever Daniel was going to say was cut off by the sound of someone yelling and the sound of running on the deck, causing Daniel to instantly push Max off him onto the bed. 

“Stay there,” he warned him, dragging some trousers on and grabbing his sword. 

The door slammed behind Daniel and Max instantly jumped up, pulling on his trousers and shirt and chasing after Daniel.

He wouldn’t leave his Captain to fight alone. 

Max burst from the gallows, Daniel’s knife in hand as he sprinted onto the deck, his heart stopping at the sight that befell him. 

Daniel was on his back in front of him, another man stood over him with his sword pressing against Dan’s throat.

No no no

His pirate was the most dangerous man.

He was the nightmare on the ocean and the horror story on the shores.

The Captain didn’t get himself into this situation. 

It wasn’t even that the other pirates weren’t looking out for him. When Max looked around, they were all engaged, even Charles was throwing a knife at someone and running across the deck to join some men at chucking some of the sailors that had stormed their ship overboard. 

The fighting ship was only meters away, and yet Max never noticed what insignia it was housing.

Right now, it didn’t matter. 

There was a fight to be had. 

A war to win.

And as the Captain was currently inhibited, it was Max’s job as the Quartermaster to take control. 

His Captain needed him. 

“Daniel!” Max screamed, running forward, ducking and slashing someone that tried to grab him before he was able to jump onto the assailants back who was holding Daniel at knifepoint, and held his own knife to the assailant’s throat.

“Release him,” Max ordered. One hand tightened in the man’s hair to tilt his head back to give himself ample room to slit the man’s throat if needed. 

Daniel was looking up at Max on the assailant’s back and smirked, clearly thinking they were about to win.

“Release the Captain or I’ll slit your throat,” Max hissed when the man didn’t move. 

“Drop your weapon Commander,” the man replied and Max instantly fell off him, throwing the knife to one side as the assailant loosened his grip on his sword. 

Daniel was able to roll out of the way and tried to grab Max to move him behind him where he could keep him safe. 

“Don’t, Daniel,” Max whispered, pulling out of his grip and shuffling backwards on the deck.

“Hold!” The man yelled, holding a hand up and Max and Daniel both watched as all the sailors that had stormed their ship fell to a stop. 

“Drop your weapons!” Max shouted as he saw his men start to advance, taking their stop to mean it was time to attack.

“Max, what the fuck are you doing?!” Daniel asked, grabbing his bandaged hand. 

Max pulled his hand free and looked up at the man stood above them.

“You can’t take me.”

“Your kingdom needs you, Commander.”

“My kingdom does, or you do?”

“You need to come home!”

“I don’t want to!” Max screamed.

“This isn’t about what you want! You need to come home! Your mind is poisoned! You’re a fool!”

“No! No!” 

Before Max could keep protesting, could tell him that he loved Daniel, that he wanted to be a pirate forever simply to stay with this man, he was grabbed under his arms and around his legs.

“No!” Max screamed, kicking out and twisting his body to try and loosen their grip. 

But these men were used to it. They were used to Max’s tantrums and him running away. They could move fast.

Max screwed just eyes shut as he was jostled around, screaming loudly as he tried to fight them. He could hear the sound of the Pirates trying to get him back, to fight for their Quartermaster and the sound of Daniel jostling for his knife and sword. 

“Max!” Daniel yelled. His voice seemed so far away, so lost. 

Lost to the sea.

Max had lost him. There was no way he’d get his Captain back. 

Not now. 

Not ever.

The sea had to claim him. 

Max would rather the sea claim him too. 

He’d rather die at sea than lose the man that had taught him how to be a person. To be more than just a rank. A dignitary. 

He didn’t want to go back to his kingdom. 

He didn’t want the responsibility of being _him_.

Toying with the law, being a pirate, losing himself to the darkness that for the first time in his life gave him a home and taught him how to hone those skills in a way that the Navy never could, it gave him purpose.

He’d never anticipated this being his life when he’d given himself over to the Captain of the SS Kikiaye. 

But he’d never give it back.

He wanted this man and everything that came with him.

This was the real Max.

Not that fucking poncey boy that wore a uniform that they spent months and months tailoring to fight just right only for Max to get yelled at when he inevitably got it messed up when he got involved with something he shouldn’t. 

He wanted this life because he wanted the Captain. 

“Daniel!”

“Get him away from here!” That gruff voice that Max had spent months dreaming off hearing again cut through. 

Max would gladly never hear it again if it just meant the arms around his waist weren’t his old tutor but rather Daniel’s.

“Daniel!” Max screamed futilely.

“Max, Max, calm down baby, we’ve got you, you never have to go back to him,” his old tutor cooed.

“LET ME GO!”

“Calm down, sweetheart, we’ve got you. You’re coming home.”

“NO! DANIEL!”

“Max!” Daniel was being held back by Charles on the Kikiaye, the same distressed look on his face that Max knew was echoed back on his own. “I’ll find you again! I won’t let them take you!”

“DANIEL!”

Max started being dragged backwards, towards the Admiral’s chambers only this time Max didn’t want anything to do with them. 

“You fucking psycho! Let go of me! I’m fucking kill you!” Max yelled, “Let me go!”

“You need to calm down!”

“LET ME GO!”

“Max Emilian!”

Max kept screaming, begging for them to let him go, to return him to Daniel. When he managed to break free of their hold, he ran to the door, tugging helplessly on it only to find it locked. 

Locked

Imprisoned

Held captive _again_

Max screamed and pummelled his fists into the door, banging on it loudly as sobs tore from his throat. It felt like his souls was ripping apart, as though the nightmare was finally coming true.

Max had witnessed it first hand.

Only his childhood had been a lie.

The man at sea wasn’t who you should fear.

It’s the man who runs the shore that you should. 

The nightmare wasn’t Daniel.

It was the kingdom. 

It was the King.

It was his father.

~~~~

“Get me a fucking map!” Daniel shouted, rallying his men once he’d watched the ship that carried his boy sail away. 

He’d have stormed them again. He’d have gone after them. He’d have done anything to get Max back in his arms. 

Except he knew the danger. 

You didn’t attack a Royal Boat outright unless you wanted death, and with the way they plucked Max up and away as though it was nothing, Daniel knew they had power. 

There was something different about this boat. 

And the way Max had handed himself over, dropped off that bastard that had got the wind on Daniel, there had to be something more to it. More to Max…

They’d called him the Commander…

“You can’t go after him,” Charles told him, grabbing Daniel by the elbow. “You have to forget about him.”

“I’m not forgetting about him, Charles! He’s everything. He’s my boy, he’s my-”

“He’s the Prince of Romeo.”

Daniel felt his heart stop. 

Romeo...

The very land that had captured Daniel and held him before. The place where his nightmare moniker had been born.

And his Max was of Royal blood. 

“He’s Prince Max...”

“Yes,” Charles said, dropping his gaze, “I told him you didn’t know.”

“I never saw the Prince...”

“He wasn’t raised near the gallows. His Fathers aren’t stupid. They probably knew Max could easily be turned against them. Especially by someone like you.”

“That’s what he meant. When he said he needs a wife. His fathers-”

“He’s expected to give an heir, yes. You can’t go after him, Daniel. They’ll kill you. You’ll lose everything and more importantly, you’ll see that he gave you up. That he knows when he’s on the shore, you and him can never happen. If he’s got a choice between who he is now and who he was then, he’d pick you. But on the shore, it’s not his choice. He’s not the Max you know. He’s not the Max you fell for. That Max is dead. He’s gone. Buried in the ocean under the sea bed where no man will ever find him again. You have to forget about him.” Charles stubbornly shook Daniel’s shoulders, staring him deep in the eyes with a hard look on his face.

“I can’t.”

“He isn’t your Max. Not anymore. He’s dead, Daniel. Forget him.”

“I can’t.” Daniel looked out to the sea, towards the general direction in which they knew the land of Romeo was. Where Max was. “I can’t forget him.”

“You have to. It will only hurt you more if you try and get him back. You can’t. The boy you knew, he’s gone. He’s gone forever. And I know you don’t want to hear this, but they’ll arrange a marriage for him. He’ll be betrothed to have a wife and child. They’ll cover his hand forever. Every reminder of you will be gone. And if you go near the shore, you’ll be imprisoned for assault on Royalty. Did you… did you bruise him?”

Daniel screwed his eyes shut and folded his arms over the fencing on the deck, burying his fingers in his curls and tugging on them lightly. 

Max loved his curls, loved threading his fingers through them and holding on when Daniel _bruised_ him. 

“Yeah.”

“And you branded him.”

“Yep, because he’s mine.”

“And that’s a death sentence for you now,” Charles said without preamble. The young medic had been aboard Daniel’s ship for a few years, taking him on as an apprentice to the ship’s old medic after the death of Charles’ family, no matter how much Charles liked to claim he was a captive. He wasn’t, he was just a tad dramatic. Charles had a reputation for being small but dangerous, but so gentle. 

Except when it came to his words. 

The medic was vicious and spoke without filter, and as much as it hurt to hear Charles say that Daniel had lost Max for good, that he would be killed if he went near him, it was needed. 

“I don’t want him to be gone,” Daniel murmured. 

“I know,” Charles ducked under his arms and wrapped himself around Daniel, hugging him in a way that only a little brother would. 

His hugs weren’t as good as Max’s, no one’s ever will match up to them. When Max hugged you, he hugged you with his entire heart, body and soul, wrapping himself up in a way that made Daniel feel loved and safe in a way that he hadn’t since he was a very young lad. 

And now he’d never experience it again. 

His boy, gone. Lost. Thrown back into the realm where Daniel could never get him back. A place where Max would start a new life with the wife that had caused the argument that led to him becoming a pirate. A place where Max would most likely return to his position as Commander of the most feared Naval unit in the continent. 

Now, not only did Max have his pure skill and raw talent for commandeering boats like he’d done it his entire life (which as Prince of the land, he most likely had), he now understood how Pirates worked. How their minds ticked and how they operated. How storming a ship happened so damn smoothly because they’d always outsmarted the military that had tried to stop them.

Only now, Max was a Pirate and a Sailor. He was the deadliest force in the realm, and Daniel was powerless to stop him or recapture him.

Max was good. He was _too_ good. 

Daniel knew that. Had known from the minute that he’d sacrificed himself to save his men that Max had the power to do great things. 

And he would. Daniel was sure of it.

He just wouldn’t be around to see it.

“Man the commands,” he shouted instead, “We’re sailing west, boys!”

Charles looked up at him from where he still had his arms wrapped around Daniel’s waist.

“West?”

“There’s no point going back for the captive. He’s gone now. I’ll find a new one,” Daniel said emotionlessly. It was time to forget about him and it was time to move on. 

“Daniel-”

“Captain.” Daniel sharply corrected. 

If Max’s kingdom had deemed him a nightmare, he’d become it.

If the darkness wanted Daniel, he’d let it take him.

The darkness would welcome him and Daniel would prove a point to this damn world that he could be the horror story it deemed him to be.

Fuck the kingdom. 

Fuck the realm.

It was time to embody the danger.

There better be someone around for him to kill soon.

~~~

Max felt numb as he walked from the ship onto the shore, ignoring his Father who was holding his elbow to keep him in line, knowing full well that the second he let go of Max, he was likely to bolt back to the seas. Max was choosing to ignore the way that the trumpets were celebrating his return. 

What was the point of celebrating the return of their Prince to the captivity of the realm?

He didn’t want to be here. 

He looked fleetingly over his shoulder, back towards where he’d rather be. 

They’d sailed for a couple of days, however Max had paid it no attention. He’d spent most of the sail screaming, punching out at his Father and his Tutor, not wanting them near him and even successful slashing his Father with the knife Daniel had given him before they’d taken it from him. 

He didn’t want to be here. He didn’t want to be around here. The way in which his Father had captured him and kidnapped him back to a home where his heart would never reside would forever haunt him. 

Everything seemed so loud however in contrast to the way his mind was running, memories of Daniel’s voice echoing in his ear and his fingers on his skin, the outside world was silent. 

It was funny how Max had not even wanted the pirate to touch him and now he couldn’t get the pirate’s touch out of his mind.

“Maxy,” his Father whispered. Not the one that had taken him. The other one. 

Max didn’t say anything. He couldn’t say anything. 

When he felt his Papa wrap him up in his arms, Max stood limply, arms by his sides and his eyes clouded over. 

Even the smell of his Papa was now wrong to him. 

Daniel had always smelt of the sea, and for someone that spent the majority of his life in the ocean, it had given Max more comfort than anything else that his Fathers had ever given him. No hug, no kiss on the forehead, no tuck in at night or holding him when he had nightmares would match up to it. 

“Come on, you,” the Palace nurse murmured once his Papa had let go of him, wrapping his arm around Max’s shoulders and guiding him into the palace. “Let’s get your hand checked out.”

Max let Nico lead him up to his old quarters, a place he hadn’t seen in nearly four months. 

At least that’s what Nico told him.

Max had no idea.

It hadn’t seemed so long. It had felt like only a couple of weeks, but Max would crave and remember those weeks for the rest of his life. 

Numbly, he let himself be undressed by Nico, Lewis coming along to keep an eye on them as his tutor knew that Max could be hot-headed, especially when he was upset. 

Except now he couldn’t feel anything. Nothing but emptiness. 

“Maxy,” Nico whispered, tracing his finger over the back of Max’s shoulder where Daniel had written before. 

He felt Lewis come around to join his partner, both of them reading through the words scribed onto Max’s skin.

“Max, are you okay?” Nico gently asked as Max sat down in the bath water. His nurse had seen him in much worse states than naked, even with the few bruises that decorated pockets of skin and the bandage covering the only piece of Daniel he still had on his hand. 

“Max, talk to me,” Lewis said, coming around to kneel in front of Max and cup his jaw. 

Max looked lifelessly through Lewis, not able to make out the shape of old tutor’s face until he simply closed his eyes. A tear fell slowly, tracing down his cheek and dropping into the water between his knees.

“Lewis,” Nico said, however Max paid neither of them any mind. They were better than his fathers, at least they didn’t try to denounce the existence of Daniel in his life, however Max doubted they’d listen if he told them he loved the pirate. 

“Max,” Nico said again, only this time Max did open his eyes and looked sideways at him. “Do you know what he wrote on your shoulder?”

Max shook his head. He couldn’t see it. Not because he didn’t want to, but because he was unable to. Daniel had written it just out of his vision no matter which way Max turned. 

“He wrote ‘I love you’.”

Max looked Nico in the eye, staring at him to see if he was telling the truth. With the way Nico was softly looking at him and brushing his hair out of his eyes, he knew he wasn’t being lied to. 

Nico never lied to him. 

“Oh Max,” Nico whispered, gathering Max into his arms, not bothering about the water wetting his clothes, as Max sobbed in his arms.

“I want Daniel,” Max sobbed, clutching onto Nico tighter with every passing second. 

“He’s a pirate, Max.”

“I love him,” Max admitted, “Please Nico-”

“You’re brainwashed, Max,” a gruff voice cut through and Max instinctively flinched at the sound of his Father. 

He wasn’t brainwashed. He knew how it could be perceived, but he wasn’t. 

Simply all it had taken was Daniel paying attention to him, not knowing that Max was a Prince and instead treated him as a normal boy for Max to fall for him. He wasn’t duty bound or using Max in a way that could’ve benefited him. If he had, he’d have realised who Max was. 

After all, they’d held the pirate in their Kingdom for a number of months when Max had been a boy. 

Max had never told anyone that he’d watched the pirate escape and lied when he said he’d seen nothing. 

He’d always been fascinated (and had developed a mild crush on the man but chose to ignore it) but wary of him. He never trusted the pirate, knew he was dangerous, knew he was deadly, believed he was the nightmare Max’s parents and tutor told him he was. 

The Captain _could_ be.

Daniel was not. 

“I love him,” Max whispered. “Nico-”

“I know, sweetheart, but he’s gone now. I’m sorry, liebling, but he’s gone. He’s a pirate, and he’s not going to risk coming for you.”

“Then let me go back to him.”

“Your Father says no,” Nico reminded him.

“I don’t care. I want Daniel.”

Nico shushed him and cooed, wrapping a blanket around Max’s shoulders and encouraging him out of the bath water as he brushed away the tears. 

Tears were still falling as Nico dressed Max, brushing the water from his skin and encouraging him into his clothes. 

“Did you wash his words away?” Max whispered as Nico settled him in his bed.

“No, sweetheart. I wouldn’t.”

Max didn’t say anything, simply nodded and held his hand out to Nico. 

The bandage had gotten sodden through the water and the grime of the ships, and as much as he didn’t want to reveal the mark Daniel had branded him with, he knew the risk of it getting infected terrified him more. If it got infected, Max could lose his hand and he’d lose yet another connection to Daniel.

If he kept his mark, at least one day, when Max’s fathers weren’t looking, he could run away again. He knew how to sail a boat and he’d find Daniel or he’d die trying. 

The ocean was his home. 

It was take him to his heart again. 

Max watched Nico take the bandage off, not even flinching when Nico ran his fingers across the strong black lines of Max’s new (and only) tattoo. 

Tattoos on the Royal Family or anyone that worked in their employment were forbidden, and to have a _pirates_ marking was a sin worse than death.

“Your Father will insist on you having this covered or removed.”

“I’d rather lose my hand than lose his mark.”

“You’re seriously in love with him?” Nico asked, giving Max his hand back, content that he wasn’t at risk of infection.

“Please Nico, talk to Lewis. Tell Papa. Don’t talk to my Father.”

“Your parents-”

“I don’t care. I just want Daniel.”

“You’re the Prince, Max. You can’t be with him.”

“Because he’s a man?”

“Because he’s a pirate, darling. Your fathers don’t care who you bring into your bed. They care about your happiness. And I know you want that to be Daniel that brings your happiness, but the safety of the kingdom has to come first. They brought you into this kingdom not knowing a thing about that little toddler carrying a sword because you needed to be happy, but you can’t have that with Daniel, not anymore.”

“He’s a good person, Nico. I promise,” Max whimpered. 

“He wants you to think that. He wants you to believe he’s a good man because he wants the notoriety that comes with owning the Prince-”

“He doesn’t know. At least he didn’t. Charles Leclerc was there. Even he didn’t recognise me until I prompted him. I don’t know if he knows now, I bet Charles told him, but he didn’t know. He liked me for _me_ , Nico.”

“How can you be sure?”

“He got angry at one point. Told me to go home because Charles called me the Prince. If he knew, he wouldn’t have given me that option, would he?”

“Darling, I know you want to believe that, but you have to remember who he is.”

Max screwed his eyes shut and bit at his lip, turning on his side away from Nico. 

No one got it. No one was listening to him. 

He _knew_ Daniel could be a bad man. He _knew_ that his kingdom would never accept Daniel in the way he wanted as people would forever see him as the nightmare. 

But he wasn’t just that. 

He was that and so much more. 

Determined. Funny. Cute. Gentle. Loving.

He loved Max.

And Max loved him. However no one would ever listen to him. 

They’d only ever see Daniel as the Pirate. The Murderer. The Criminal. 

Why could they not understand he was so much _more_ than that?

His name was softly whispered before he was turned and bundled up in his Papa’s arms, being shushed as he was rocked through his broken sobs.

“Please Papa,” Max cried, looking up at the broken hearted expression on Papa’s face.

“I know, sweetheart,” Papa whispered, kissing his forehead like he used to when Max was a little boy, “I know.”

“I want him!” Max buried his face in Papa’s chest and tightened his fists on his shirt, clutching him close as he sobbed through the heartache, the pain, the misery. 

Max had been thrown overboard once during his training to become the Naval Commander he was so notorious for being. 

The scream of surprise and the way that he’d crashed heavily into the ocean, his body smashing into it, didn’t hurt as much as he did now. Now it felt as though every sob was being personally pulled from his throat, hands scratching and twisting it until his heart and throat were raw and painful.

There was nothing that could be done. No one that could make him feel safe now. No one that could protect his throat from the torment of a broken heart. 

Maybe that’s why it hurt so much. 

His heart wasn’t here to be hurt itself. It was still far, _far_ away wherever his pirate lay now. In the absence of his heart, his body had decided to start breaking everything else. 

So be it.

He’d been told a pirate would kill him.

He never anticipated it being falling in love with the pirate that would be his downfall. 

~~~~

Daniel didn’t see his Maxy again since the day that they’d abducted him, however his mind often drifted to the young Commander of the navy that he’d made a pirate. 

It had been 247 days since he’d last been with his Max. 

The only reason he knew was because he’d carved a line into the wall underneath the window in his chambers every morning that he woke up without Max there. 

One time, Daniel had dared to sail close to the land of Romeo, however had remained a suitable distance away. 

He thought he’d seen Max’s old ship. 

He hoped so.

He hoped Max was happy. 

He wondered if his Max had married yet. Whether he was in the process of giving his Fathers, King Sebastian and Admiral Kimi, another heir to the throne. 

More importantly, he wondered if Max had set sail again. 

He’d never looked happier than when he’d been on a boat, standing at the top of the deck and staring out, letting the wind ruffle his hair and paint his cheeks rosy with a beautiful grin on his face. 

He hoped Max was allowed to sail again. 

“Captain!” 

Daniel turned from where he was looking over the ocean and smirked when he saw a ship in the not too far distance. 

A good raid, that’s what they needed now.

“Set a course for it,” Daniel told the first mate. 

His men started readying themselves, swords clashing and words yelling as they got ready to storm.

Say what you want about Daniel being ruthless, but these lot were just as dangerous as he. 

They were the nightmares too. 

Daniel was one of the first across when it came to storming the boat, diving between men and running straight at the Captain’s chambers. 

It was always fun to see the look on the Captain’s face when they realised just who was taking their ship.

Daniel threw the door open, sword at the ready when he stopped dead in his tracks.

“Miss me?” The Commander smirked, tattoo obvious against the curve of his smile. 

And Daniel dropped his sword.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all enjoy screaming at me for that ending lmao
> 
> kudos, comments & feedback always greatly appreciated💙
> 
> Tumblr is at 3303andmore💙


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